Ma is not the only tech billionaire to predict that AI will result in fewer hours spent working. Microsoft founder Bill Gates told Fox Business at the World Economic Forum in 2018 that machine learning will allow humans to be more productive. So "certainly we can look forward to the idea that vacations will be longer at some point," Gates said. "The purpose of humanity is not just to sit behind a counter and sell things. More free time is not a terrible thing."

A young boy communicating with a robot that is on display at Incheon International Airport in Seoul / South Korea. Artificial Intelligence is going to transform the world, changing a lot of things for all categories of people in the process; children will be among the most affected. "You and I live in an age where we're starting to be impacted, but we've spent a lot of our lives not really having interacted with AI. We're also adults that have some volition and agency. For children, it's different," Erica Kochi, co-founder of UNICEF Innovation Unit, tells me.

BENGALURU: A thermal physics class is in progress at Grade 8B of Indus International School, Bengaluru. The physics teacher, Murali Subramanian, is hovering over the children but conducting lessons at the centre of the classroom is Eagle 2.0, a humanoid robot, which could perhaps be the first in the country to be a teacher assistant. We will focus on thermal physics today!" says Eagle 2.0, moving its head and body in robotic movements. Clad in a white top, black skirt and scarf around her neck, she is capable of two-way interaction: She takes queries from students and asks the class questions, and reacts to the answers she receives. On a screen, a PowerPoint presentation is in sync with her class. But, a better answer can be...," she tells a student who answers her question.

On 12 February 2019, the European Parliament adopted a Resolution on a comprehensive European industrial policy on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics1. After describing AI as "one of the strategic technologies of the 21st century"2, the European Parliament presented several recommendations to the Member States. This Resolution underlines the need to close the European gap with North America and Asia-Pacific, and promotes a coordinated approach at the European level "to be able to compete with the massive investments made by third countries, especially the US and China"3. Europe is well behind in private investments in AI, with €2.4 to €3.2 billion in 2016, as opposed to €6.5 to €9.7 billion in Asia-Pacific and €12.1 to €18.6 billion in North America. To address this challenge, the European Parliament develops a general approach based on a strategic regulatory environment for AI and encourages strong user protections.

Robots may soon be taking over our brains -- but not for the reason you think. Mechanical engineers have developed a snake-like robot to navigate narrow pathways in the body -- particularly blood vessels in the brain. The scientists with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hope the invention, now in the prototype stage, can be used to break up blood clots or treat strokes and aneurysms. A similar treatment called mechanical thrombectomy has been used for years, in which a metal wire had to be guided manually through vessels, starting all the way down in an artery in the upper thigh. But the treatment isn't ideal -- it requires a surgeon with specialized training, and involves using X-rays to guide the way, which could expose patients to tissue-damaging radiation.

The idea of robots taking our jobs is not radically new. But artificial intelligence (AI) is now completely reorganising the global economy. Some estimates of productivity-driven economic growth conclude that AI will contribute approximately $US16 trillion ($23 trillion) to the global economy by 2030. Unfortunately -- compared to the European Union, Japan, United States and United Kingdom -- Australia has been relatively late in turning to address the challenges of AI, and creating the right policies to deal with its many implications (good and bad). For our economy to thrive, what we need now is the right mix of governance, regulation, civil society participation, industry support and business compliance -- as well as the development and deepening of digital literacy throughout Australian communities.

The idea of robots taking our jobs is not radically new. But artificial intelligence (AI) is now completely reorganising the global economy. Some estimates of productivity-driven economic growth conclude that AI will contribute approximately $US16 trillion ($23 trillion) to the global economy by 2030. Unfortunately -- compared to the European Union, Japan, United States and United Kingdom -- Australia has been relatively late in turning to address the challenges of AI, and creating the right policies to deal with its many implications (good and bad). For our economy to thrive, what we need now is the right mix of governance, regulation, civil society participation, industry support and business compliance -- as well as the development and deepening of digital literacy throughout Australian communities.

This week, I talk to Brendan McCord, who wrote the Pentagon's AI strategy and is now a Special Government Employee at the National Security Commission on AI. Brendan talks about what he believes the US needs to do to stay competitive with China and promote an alternative vision of AI-powered security and prosperity to the world.

Artificial intelligence has thrashed humans at chess. Now the bots are gunning for mahjong. An AI-powered program developed by Microsoft Corp has surpassed the average level of the top players in a recent competition in Japan, Harry Shum, executive vice-president of the companys artificial intelligence and research group, said in Shanghai on Thursday. To those friends who usually lose money in mahjong, this is good news to you, Shum said to laughter at the World AI Conference. The bot player developed by Microsoft can deal with high uncertainty, presenting instincts akin to human, projection and deduction capabilities as well as a sense of overall consciousness.